A ‘Dumb Starbucks’ Opens with the Word ‘Dumb’ Affixed to Everything

Would you like milk in your dumb iced coffee? A concept shop in Los Angeles is taking trademark to task by lampooning the Seattle-based coffee chain with a direct copy of its stores, but with the word 'dumb' before everything

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Take a Starbucks coffee shop, affix the word “dumb” to everything in sight, and you’ve got the idea behind a new concept store in Los Angeles that is attempting a gloriously dumb end run around the U.S. trademark system.

The Wall Street Journalreports that “Dumb Starbucks” opened this weekend with an offer of free drinks, from “Dumb Caramel Macchiato” to “Dumb Chai Tea Latte,” available in sizes ranging from “Dumb Tall” to “Dumb Venti.”

Pictures on social media showed a line of customers extending out of the front door, which had above it a perfect facsimile of the Starbucks logo, albeit with the word “dumb” squeezed into the outer ring. The scrupulous dumb theme even extended to the CD’s at the front counter, which titles such as “Dumb Norah Jones Duets” and “A Dumb Taste of Cuba.”

Workers handed dumbstruck customers a printed FAQ which stated that it was in fact a real business, but, “for legal reasons Dumb Starbucks needs to be categorized as a work of parody art,” which means a judge may soon have to decide if art can imitate business.